My husband has a shirt we purchased at a brewery in Freeport, Maine. On the front it says “Maine Beer Company” and on the back it says “Do the right thing.” It’s so appealing to do the right thing, but what is right? For each of us the answer is different. What is right for you aligns with your spirit, feels good to your bones.
Last week I spent some time, energy and resources to help a friend in need. That felt SO GOOD. Giving and sharing are always in alignment for me (as they are for most of us), which is probably one of the many reasons I teach. Before I knew it I had spent a couple of hours trying to help my friend. Everyone has a place where time evaporates and you’ve gotten lost in something. It’s there where you’ve found something that is completely in the flow or alignment for yourself. Stay aware of those moments, they are like a guiding North star.
I was at a yogathon on Sunday, with 1,000 people practicing yoga all day at Gillette stadium, raising money for Boston Children’s Hospital and Seane Corn’s Off The Mat program. Seane Corn was there, and summed up what I am trying to say here so perfectly, “Beauty is living in harmony with your truth.”
Diving a bit deeper I would add that every choice we make adds up, until you reflect and you see that you are a compilation of the choices you’ve made. Some we take very seriously, others we may make over a beer, but there remains a powerful opportunity to shape the course of your life and to keep it in alignment with your own truth, your own spirit, with every choice you make.
Deepak Chopra says, “To make the right choices in life, you have to get in touch with your soul. To do this you need to experience solitude, which people are afraid of, because in silence you hear the truth and know the solutions.” I believe this is why a regular yoga practice is so powerful. It gives you the opportunity to quiet the chatter of the brain, to slow down and quiet down. Yoga is a meditation in motion and as such gives you the time to do the inner work–to listen in the silence.
This week we worked on our alignment physically, but as always, the practice is a mind, body, spirit practice. So, yes, while we focused on finding the mountain pose in every pose, we also looked at aligning with our values and our true self.
Peace.